One of Friday night's game officials was Stark County native JB DeRosa, who was a standout runner for GlenOak and East Canton high schools. The 22-year-old DeRosa is the son of current NCAA Division I men's basketball referee Joe DeRosa, a former NBA referee. The younger DeRosa also works as a college basketball official.

A.O. IS BACK

The Charge reacquired center Arinze Onuaku this week. He spent last season in Canton, gaining a D-League All-Star nod. He averaged 12.6 points and 9.5 rebounds in 38 games last season, while shooting 56.4 percent from the field for then-head coach Alex Jensen.

Onuaku made the New Orleans Pelicans roster out of training camp but was waived earlier this month.

Asked if he felt like there was one thing he needed to improve on to get back to the NBA level, Onuaku said, "It's just about the right opportunity."

Charge head coach Steve Hetzel is keeping it simple for Onuaku since the Syracuse product has had limited practice time with the Charge.

"I told him coming in we weren't going to cloud his mind with all of our terminology and everything we've been doing since Day 1," Hetzel said. "His job is to show on pick-and-rolls, be a help defender and rebound. That's what I want from him. He's definitely a huge asset, not only with his size, but with his quickness at that size."

BIG BOYS

Onuaku's arrival coincided with the Springfield Armor coming to town with their big frontcourt of 7-foot Jeff Foote, 6-10 Willie Reed and 6-9 Dennis Horner. And it sounds like that frontcourt is getting bigger. Hetzel mentioned during Friday's pregame media availability that the Armor acquired 6-11, 285-pound Dexter Pittman, who spent the past three seasons bouncing between the Miami Heat and the D-League. The Armor did not release any information Friday on Pittman. They play again in Canton on Saturday night.

TOUGH DECISIONS

To make room for Onuaku on the roster, the Charge cut wing player Zane Johnson. The 24-year-old shooter played well in two games for the Charge, but he simply got caught in a numbers game. Canton only can carry 10 players on its active roster and two on the inactive list.

"With all these guys, you hope to build a good enough relationship that they understand that it's not personal. It's business," Hetzel said. "If there's an opportunity, we'd like to have them back."

Hetzel said he's had no conflicts this season when having to make cuts.

"Part of it is we just have great guys to begin with," he said. "We try to treat everybody fairly. If they did have a problem I could respect that, too, because we're all competitors."